Integrative Biology

Imagine coming in to the first day of biology class and sitting on your lab bench is a white mouse. You sit and stare at this mouse and are wondering, “What are we going to be doing to this mouse?” Not what you were expecting on your first day of class, huh?

Integrative Biology differs from the typical college biology course in that lectures and labs are integrated into each class. This structure allows students to first learn the material and then minutes later apply the newly learned material through hands-on experiments. The Biology Department at RMC has created a brand new course that capitalizes on many proven science teaching reforms. The new course, called Integrative Biology meets for two three-hour periods per week in what has been termed a “studio format.” This course prepares biology majors for continuing success in the biological science by showing them the many different areas of biology which they could be interested in. For non-majors that take this course it is a great course to be introduce and use hands on skills to learn the subject of biology. Not only will majors and non-majors get introduced to the subject of biology they will also learn essential “life skills”. These life skills include working with other individuals in your class, oral and written presentations, and being able to communicate ideas through writing and experimentation. This course teaches students that biology isn’t just about memorizing facts and figures, it is about applying the knowledge you learn to answer questions that indirectly deal with real science topics.